In recent years it has become quite common to inspect gas turbine engines using what is commonly referred to as a borescope. The borescope is inserted through access ports in the casing or casings of the gas turbine to permit viewing portions of the engine, such as compressor or turbine blades, that might otherwise require considerable disassembly to enable viewing.
Where the casing access ports are on the lower half of the gas turbine or where photography or a television camera is to be employed, it is desirable and may be necessary to provide a fixture to rigidly support the borescope and associated camera. A fixture for use with a flexible, fiber optics borescope is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,170, issued Dec. 11, 1973 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Such a fixture, however, is not suitable for use with a rigid optics borescope which has an inflexible shaft.
It is also desirable that the apparatus employed to support the borescope probe be such as to permit the operator to easily manipulate the borescope or change its viewing position so as to maximize the area that can be viewed through a single access port.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a fixture that will rigidly support a borescope in a gas turbine engine and that permits the operator to readily move the borescope to and lock the borescope in the desired viewing position.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a compact adjustable borescope mounting device of rugged construction that permits the operator to readily adjust the radial insertion depth and rotational and angular position of the probe and lock the probe in the desired viewing position.